The Socio-Ecological Origins of Uneven Urban Tree Cover in Miami, Florida

Keywords: urban tree cover, urban forest, greenspace, political ecology, environmental justice, historical geography
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 40

Abstract

Urban forests provide important ecosystem services in the form of access to greenspace and heat mitigation. In the subtropical environment of Miami, Florida, the ability of trees to mitigate heat is particularly valuable given increases in extreme heat days due to climate change. Tree cover in Miami and other cities has been shown to be related to household income (Szantoi et al., 2012; Schwarz et al., 2015) and race (Flocks et al., 2011; Heynen et al., 2006), making the distribution of urban forests an environmental justice issue. There is a need for consideration of historical context to understand how inequities in urban tree cover and urban park area are produced (Schwarz et al., 2015; Roman et al., 2021). In this presentation, I analyze the origins of Miami’s urban forest through consideration of historical socio-ecological processes that produced areas of high and low tree cover. My focus is on two zones: a high-income green belt with several large urban parks along Miami’s waterfront, and a low-income mixed residential and industrial zone near the city center. Through archival research paired with historical land cover analysis, I describe the early twentieth century ecological factors, environmental values, and property relations that created persistent spatial differences in Miami’s urban environment.